Whirlpool Jet Boat

On Memorial Day when we woke up, priority one was to schedule our jetboat tour. We ended up choosing the 4pm trip to get a break in price. When we got there we went through a short safety orientation first. We were given all sorts of gear to wear. Over our regular clothes was a wool sweater that was supposed to keep us relatively warm, then a full body coverall-type suit with another poncho and life jacket on top of that! We had to wear these slimy little water shoes instead of our regular shoes since everything would get so wet. Eric really wanted to get in the front of the boat, so we hurried into the gear so we could get in the front of the line. We ended up on the second row, which seemed to be all right too. In fact, one of our guides indicated that the second row gets slightly wetter than the first row since they are guarded by a little window. We started off slow going down the Niagara River. The United States was on one side of us and Canada on the other. The Canadian side was mostly trees. Everything appeared to be pretty much in its natural state. The United States side had several multi-million dollar homes, including Hillary Clinton's summer home. Things that make you go hmmmm. Why can't we just leave things beautiful for everyone to enjoy? Why to we isolate certain areas for just the rich? So many areas really. But I digress....We went through the Class 5 rapids on the river. We went on a few "test" spins and what they called a Mickey Mouse run before we did the real thing. We still got pretty wet during that part, but it was easy sprays and such. When we went for the "real thing" it was like having several bathtubs of freezing cold water thrown right into your face. Doesn't that sound like fun? Really it was though. Exhilarating. The natural instinct when you have cold water dumped on you is to gasp. Naturally when you try this you inhale and drink quite a bit of the river water. I could taste it for the next day or so. ;) The entire ride lasted for about an hour or so. When we headed back to the dock, I was definitely really cold, but it was so nice to ride and feel the wind on my face. Eric and I had a great time and I think it was the highlight of the trip for both of us.

http://www.whirlpooljet.com/